This strategy aims to maximise the value of our crude oil production and to strengthen and support the value of the group's upstream portfolio. Continued focus on safe, reliable and efficient operations is the basis for future growth in this segment. We will focus on further developing our position in North America in order to maximise value creation from the group's crude production in the Gulf of Mexico, future production of extra heavy oil from Canada and Brazil, and our production imported to North America from other regions.
Oil sales, trading and supply (OTS)
OTS will continue to strengthen our global trading position in crude and natural gas liquids, with an increased presence and activity in selected regions as well as sustaining our market position in North West Europe. StatoilHydro equity production is the backbone of our business and growth ambitions, and we will focus strongly on delivering business development and infrastructure projects to secure market access and competitive pricing for our equity volumes world wide. Physical trading infrastructure and sound logistical solutions give our business a competitive edge. We will increase flexibility in the marketing of NCS volumes and evaluate infrastructure assets independently of our own equity production in order to support increased trading activity.
Manufacturing
The main focus of our manufacturing activity is to contribute to maximising the value of StatoilHydro's feedstocks from field to end user and to be an active downstream partner in the internationalisation of StatoilHydro.
Our ambition is to maintain the competitiveness of Mongstad, Kalundborg and Pernis by exploiting technology in order to improve reliability, energy efficiency, maintenance and HSE performance. Our focus will be to increase the robustness of the plants, while adapting to changes in feedstock and market variations. Such changes may well include the increased upgrading of gasoils and heavy oils to diesel, and the production and supply of biofuels. The new combined heat and power (CHP) plant at Mongstad will improve energy efficiency when it starts up in 2010, and also lay the foundation for future improvements.
We will implement cost-efficient and flexible liquid transportation solutions. The logistics solution will add value by making it possible to combine cargoes and crude qualities, enabling a reduction in refinery feedstock costs and providing flexibility to handle high tan and heavy crude oil. It will also be important to develop business concepts and related technology that are feasible across the Arctic area.
Energy and retail
Our energy and retail business will increasingly focus on the transportation fuel sector, as we expect the stationary energy sector to gradually replace oil with other non-carbon-based energy carriers.
Our ambition is to consolidate our downstream positions in Scandinavia, focusing on increasing profitability and establishing StatoilHydro as a leading supplier of bio fuels in selected markets. In Eastern Europe, we plan to build on our strong Baltic and Polish positions, and continue to evaluate market opportunities based on the Scandinavian marketing concept.
